Now... the Aussie series is a whole lot closer to "stock" car racing than NASCAR, so this one seems a bit surprising in that they completely redesigned the Altima to compete and it's absolutely nothing like the car you can buy at a dealership, which is not the case for Ford or Holden.

That said... it makes me want a few things for the future. Firstly, Nissan should join NASCAR!!! Just freakin' do it and fill the hole left by Dodge! If Toyota can make it work, then so can Nissan. Secondly... Toyota should join the Aussie series!!

Yesterday was a particularly great day for racing! It started with the F1 race from Abu Dhabi. While it was looking like Hamilton was going to take off from the pole and drive around a bunch until he won, it turned into much more than that.

Now, if his car hadn't died, Hamilton would have done exactly what you'd expect. It did die, though, and the rest what was going on behind him was amazing! Watching Vettel drive through the pack after starting from the pit lane was phenomenal, and he did it twice! Then, having Alonso battling his way forward and ultimately challenging Raikkonen for the lead was awesome.

Having Kimi take the win was well deserved and a great achievement in his first year back in the sport on a less-than-dominant team. Everyone should be happy about that!

Finally, there was LOADS of action all through the pack on a track that isn't terribly well known for passing. All in all, it was great fun to watch. If Vettel wins this championship, it will be very well deserved.

Next was the Sprint Cup race in Texas. This one had it's dull moments, but the closing laps were hugely entertaining with Brad and Jimmie, the two championship contenders (not to discount Bowyer who is definitely still in the mix) running 1st and 2nd and just going at it lap after lap, even making contact at one point. You can tell that Brad is fighting for this with everything he has and is willing to let it all hang out to go for the win. You can also tell that Jimmie is phenomenal and will take everything Brad has to give and still overcome to win races. That was great stuff all around.

Watching it, I couldn't help but give a nod to GT5 and the huge level of appreciation I have for it's realism.

Because of GT5, I felt like I knew the track inside and out and was able to better appreciate watching them run laps, knowing where I would often make mistakes and what parts seemed trickier than others.

Watching Kimi go off track.... then recover on the extra bit of pavement and then try to come back across the green stuff to get back on track brought back plenty of memories.

Of course, I generally make it back on track, but hey... I can't expect Kimi to drive better than me ALL the time, right?

Every time someone took the hard right-hander that's right after the S-turns, I couldn't help but think they should be going off into the sand like I've done a million times.